Poweramp’s latest beta gives the music player a welcome fresh coat of paint

The latest Poweramp beta completely changes the look and feel of the aging Android music player.

In addition to new navigation gestures, the beta includes new menus, popups, and Hi-Res audio output.

A final release is scheduled for June, though the beta is available for download right now.

Available since the early days of Android, music player Poweramp finally received the design overhaul it deserves with the latest beta build.

Based on the changelog and several screenshots, the revamped UI features a floating bar at the bottom that lets you access four sections of the app. The floating bar also acts as a mini-player that lets you return to the main UI or change songs.

The latest Poweramp beta also includes other ways to get around. You can swipe or tap the album art to go to the list of currently playing songs, swipe the album art to go to the next or previous track, drag the bottom mini-player or more to change categories, swipe left or right from lists to return faster, and pinch-to-zoom in lists.

Apart from newer navigation methods, the beta throws in a new “wave” seekbar, new visualization panel, and three different notification types based on your device’s Android version. Audio aficionados will appreciate the updated Hi-Res output for Android 7.0 Nougat devices and OpenSL HD output for Android 8.0 Oreo devices.

Just remember that the beta does not include device detection for OpenSL HD. As such, the app will report that it plays Hi-Res audio, even though your device might not support the output.

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Finally, keep in mind that this is unfinished software. Expect crashes, missing features, and general weirdness when you use the beta version of Poweramp. The developer even warned that this beta version is more unstable than the most recent alpha release.

With that said, expect a feature-complete beta release sometime in May and a final release sometime in June. Those timeframes could change, depending on how serious certain bugs are and specific device issues, though that is the release schedule as of this writing.

If you feel like braving the elements, you can download the Poweramp beta APK at the link below.